Faithfully Observe The 2009 Season Of Lent

Guess this shows how long it’s been since I’ve been on here…

50 days of feasting!

Happy Easter all! Christ has indeed Risen!

Happy Easter to you who follow the Gregorian calendar! :) I hope you have had a blessed day.

Please pray for us Orthodox as we begin our Holy Week tomorrow.

This Lent was one of my most stressful ever, due to the loss of 2 family members and 5 other family members ailing in old age. I slowed down where I could, and did keep up on my Bible study and Mass if nothing else. I look forward to the new beginning and renewal that God provides us each Easter!

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The Good News of the empty tomb marks the completion of this goal.

“What affects one directly affects us all indirectly.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

... and of course the post Lenten experience is to put Martins words into action and use my gifts to encourage others to do the same …

...for meditation tonight and tomorrow. Even the angels are feeling the agony.

I attended a Good Friday service at noon. As we entered, each person was given a six-inch nail, and as we filed out at the end of the service, each person dropped his/her nail into a metal bucket, which made a loud ominous clang. It was a very somber occassion.

my Lent has gone pretty well I think. I have kept up with flossing, havn’t played online poker, and had a bout where I decided not to have caffiene for a couple of days, it all went well, and I made it to confession this past weekend! It’s like giving your soul a bath basically.

I know I didnt do anything too hard core but.. what I have done worked for me. sometimes I feel like I didn’t do much but that could be just scrupulosity.. wish I knew for sure though. I really couldnt think of anything really big.

But: the Triduum has started whish is the biggest part of the whole Lenten season. Holy Thursday,Good Friday, Holy Saturday and then that Evening starts Easter! (Yes, Easter Starts on Saturday evening at nightfall.. according to the Catholic Church anyway :)

You all have been in my prayers, please do know that, and I hope all of your Lent has been blessed :)

This is Giotto’s version of the Last Supper. I had it as my desktop wallpaper for awhile back when I was reading and studying about Giotto. I think I’ll put it back again this morning to contemplate again during the next two days.

The subject of yesterday’s sermon, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, was “Contrition.” The minister sounded somewhat apologetic, starting out by saying something like, “Sorry, this isn’t fun to talk about, but after all it IS Lent.” No fire-and-brimstone, but he assured us that everyone in the room, himself included, was in need of contrition.

The subject came up again yesterday in preparing for and participating in a book group discussion of Wendell Berry’s short story Pray Without Ceasing, a story that is all about contrition. It concerned a sixty-year-old man who was about to lose his farm, and was forced to go to his best friend to ask for help. Unfortunately, he got drunk first, a mistake that made a bad situation much worse. The consequences affected the two families involved and the small town where they lived for generations.

But even before yesterday, I’ve been thinking about contrition, maybe without using that word. I have been SO very frustrated with myself, and my inability to really face my problems, my avoidance and procrastination.

Wikipedia defines contrition as “an interior repentance.” Another web site quoted that “repentance is an attitude of mind which implies readiness to have the mind changed,” and said that that attitude arises not only out of fear, but also out of hope and love. And a third web site told a story, similar to Wendell Berry’s story, about a successful man who became an alcoholic and then killed himself, and his wife said about him, “You know, his deepest problem looking back was not alcohol. His deepest problem was despair. We could never, never get him to believe that there was something redemptive that could be done about his situation. He cut himself off from hope and therefore he cut out of his life those energies that could have been redemptive.”

Contrition is feeling genuine sorrow over what you have done or what you have failed to do, but also feeling hope and love and possibility for change and redemption. That is very different from feeling fear and despair. I guess I get the two confused sometimes.